Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria is the second game in the Valkyrie Profile series. The game is a prequel to the first game Valkyrie Profile, taking place hundred of years before it. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria was released for Play Station 2 on the 22nd of June 2006 in Japan by its developer tri-ace and publisher Square Enix, the 26th of September 2006 in North America and on the 7th of September 2007 in Europe and PAL regions. Characters Main *Princess Alicia *Silmeria Valkyrie *Rufus *Dylan *Lezard Valeth *Arngrim *Leone *Hrist Valkyrie *Odin *Freya *Lenneth Valkyrie *King Barbarossa *Brahms *Mithra Story Spoilers Below Alicia/Silmeria, who was thought mad and imprisoned in a castle by her father King Barbarossa, learns of the impending threat to Dipan and tries to escape. Hrist Valkyrie, sent by Odin to retrieve Silmeria, attempts to stop her, but Alicia/Silmeria manages to get away. Chapter 1: Defiers of the Gods The game begins in the port of Solde. Learning that the ferry is out of service, Alicia/Silmeria plans to enter Dipan through the secret Royal Underground Path. Seeing Rufus, a half-elf archer wearing a special ring, Alicia/Silmeria hires him to accompany them to Dipan, although Rufus has his own reasons for helping. As they journey through the underground ruins to Dipan, Alicia finds an old necklace and Silmeria calls forth Dylan, the most powerful of her former einherjar. Chapter 2: Darkness in Dipan Alicia/Silmeria, Rufus, and Dylan enter Dipan where Rufus decided to leave the party, Alicia requests him to stay , Rufus go on talking until he discovers that Silmeria is within Alicia silmeria switched with alicia and started introducing her self , rufus looks on his ring and decided to stay with them.They sneak into the palace, finding demonic research and a mysterious machine before being discovered by the Three Mages of Dipan. They are almost captured but Lezard Valeth, the mages' new apprentice, helps them escape. Lezard informs them that King Barbarossa and The Three Mages have delved into dangerous research,including the Sovereign's Rite, demonic transformation, and time travel, and plan to use the Dragon Orb to create a new world, free of the gods' interference. Odin cannot allow this and is planning to destroy Dipan. Alicia/Silmeria, Rufus, and Dylan decide that getting the Dragon Orb themselves is the only way to stop Odin and save Dipan. Chapter 3: Ulterior Motives Alicia/Silmeria, Rufus, Dylan, and Lezard head to the Serdberg Mountain Ruins, the Dragon Orb's last known location. Searching the ruins, they meet Leone and Arngrim, two mercenaries who agree to help in exchange for any treasure they find. Silmeria recognizes that Leone is Hrist in disguise, but fearing a confrontation, does not expose her to the others. Discovering the Dragon Orb gone from the ruins, Silmeria uses her powers to follow its magical trail throughout Midgard. While searching Audoula Temple On The Lake, Rufus' ring is knocked off, causing him to go into convulsions before it is replaced. Rufus reveals why he is helping Silmeria: as the only other half-elf, Odin keeps him around in case of injury (the Ring of Mylinn he wears keeps him from aging) and should Odin ever transfer into Rufus' body, Rufus would cease to exist. Silmeria's rebellion provides an opportunity to escape his fate. The group eventually finds the Dragon Orb's final resting place in the Palace of the Venerated Dragon where Hrist reveals herself, escaping with Arngrim and the Dragon Orb. Chapter 4: Wrath of the Gods Hrist takes the Dragon Orb to Valhalla and Odin orders Dipan's destruction. Alicia/Silmeria, Rufus, Dylan, and Lezard return to Dipan but are too late to prevent Hrist from destroying the city and executing King Barbarossa. They confront Hrist and as Alicia/Silmeria and Hrist duel, the Three Mages cast the Sovereign's Rite, transmigrating Silmeria's and Hrist's souls from their bodies. Brahms reveals himself from within Dylan's body and stops them, at which point Freya appears and tries to apprehend him. This is where the timelines of Valkyrie Profile and Valkyrie Profile 2 diverge: * In the original timeline, Silmeria, separated from Alicia's body, blocks Freya's spell, becoming crystallized herself. Brahms escaped with Silmeria, explaining why she was crystallized in his castle in Valkyrie Profile. * In the altered timeline, Lezard, unknown to the others, casts his own spell and captures Silmeria. Without Silmeria's intervention, Freya crystallizes Brahms and returns with him and Hrist to Valhalla, though she cannot explain the strange distortion (from Lezard's spell) during the encounter nor why Silmeria vanished. Chapter 5: The Invisible Hand Alicia awakens to find Silmeria absent, Brahms and Lezard gone. She and Rufus decide to retrieve the Dragon Orb themselves. They journey through the Forest of Spirits, cross into Asgard, and climb to the top of Yggdrasil, where they confront Odin and Freya. Lezard reappears, and offers to aid Alicia in defeating Odin, but it is revealed that he only does this to obtain Odin's soul. Using Silmeria's captured soul, he casts a spell causing Odin to transmigrate, which also displaces Rufus' soul, before teleporting away with Odin's body and soul. Freya, unable to do anything, retreats. Alicia is able to use the Ring of Mylinn to rematerialize Rufus and restore him to his body. Alicia and Rufus descend from Yggdrasil and head to Valhalla, where they meet Arngrim, who asks to accompany them in penance for his past actions. The three of them find the Dragon Orb and the crystallized Brahms, along with Hrist and Freya. Hrist wants their help rescuing Silmeria, but Freya refuses to negotiate with humans and attacks them. Fed up with the gods trying to kill her einherjar, Hrist stops Freya by using the Dragon Orb, transporting Alicia, Rufus, Arngrim, Brahms, and Hrist into Lezard Valeth's twisted world. Chapter 6: The Twisted World Tree Finding themselves on Lezard's twisted world tree, Brahms and Hrist agree to a truce when Lenneth arrives, having come from her future to stop Lezard who, using the machine in Dipan (a time machine), traveled back in time and changed history. Ascending the tree, they rescue Silmeria, whom Alicia rematerializes into Valkyrie form. Their reunion is short-lived, though, when Lezard reveals that his target all along has been Lenneth. Having absorbed Odin's soul and power, Lezard casts the Sovereign's Rite, transmigrating the three Valkyries, and takes Lenneth's soul. Without bodies, the Valkyries will fade away so Alicia rematerializes Hrist's and Silmeria's souls into crystals until Lenneth can be freed. Following Lezard into his fortress atop the tree, they fight Lezard and shatter Lenneth's crystal prison. The three Valkyries combine their souls, using Alicia's body to form a single true Valkyrie. The Valkyrie defeats Lezard, but he stabs her before he dies, causing Alicia's body and soul to dissipate. Rufus and Arngrim return to Midgard with the Dragon Orb but Brahms decides to stay and die as Lezard's world crumbles; it is the only place where he is mortal. The three Valkyries' souls are shown separating again, their fates unknown, though a new future awaits Lenneth. Years later, Rufus is traveling through Coriander Village when he sees a young girl resembling Alicia, suggesting that her soul has been reincarnated. A young Lezard is also shown sitting on a fence if Valkyrie is not used during the final battle. This may suggest that Lezard's soul was also reincarnated. Setting There are two main settings in Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria: Midgard, the realm of mortal men, and Asgard, the realm of the gods. The game takes place hundreds of years before the first Valkyrie Profile. Midgard The world of men is a place stricken by war, famine, and disease, with the taint of death everywhere. Throughout history, the fate of Midgard has been influenced by the gods on numerous occasions, but now the Kingdom of Dipan is set upon resisting such divine interference. Asgard The world of the Aesir, ruled over by Odin, lord of the heavens. In Asgard lies the Hall of Valhalla, where the brave souls of the fallen reside. The Aesir occasionally influence the course of history in Midgard in an effort to preserve the order of the universe. Seraphic Gate Like the first installment of Valkyrie Profile, Valkyrie Profile 2 contains an optional bonus dungeon called the Seraphic Gate, unrelated to the rest of the game. It is only available by saving in the game's last save point (with at least 96% final dungeon's area explored). It has a single save point in the first room and contains five distinct sections, each with its own optional boss who must be defeated to access the next section. Finishing the Seraphic Gate once gives the player access to all 12 characters for the rest of the game and finishing it again nine times gives player the most powerful weapon in the game, Angel Slayer. ---- Gameplay As opposed to the Easy, Normal and Hard options presented in Valkyrie Profile, there is only one mode available to play. However, the game gets harder with each subsequent playthrough, noted by the number of crystals present on the title screen after completing each run (the maximum "difficulty" is fifty crystals). Chapters exist, but periods are not used, and the player is under no time constraints as in the original game. Dungeon exploration is done in a 2D side scrolling platform manner similar to Valkyrie Profile. Alicia is the only visible character and is capable of jumping, swinging her sword, and shooting photons. Photons can bounce off the ground and walls and temporarily freeze enemies and objects in crystals and are used to solve many puzzles. Enemies are visible and attacking them gives Alicia the first move in combat with a full AP gauge. Alicia can also engage an enemy in battle by coming into contact with them; in this case, there is a chance that the player will be at a disadvantage and start with an empty AP gauge. Sealstones (called 封印石 or Fuuin-seki in the Japanese version) are items with special effects hidden atop daises within dungeons. Any sealstone that is on a dais will affect enemies within that dais's radius of influence, as well as expanding the range of sealstones in other daises. If Alicia carries a sealstone on her person it affects the whole party, and similarly if an enemy possesses one it will affect that enemy party without affecting any others. If placed in a shell, the sealstone's effect is negated completely. They may also be "restored" at a cost of Magic Crystals at a spring or dais, allowing the player to equip it from any spring in any dungeon, rather than being returned to its original location once the player leaves the dungeon. Combat System Combat takes place in a real-time 3D battlefield, utilizing the Advanced Tactical Combination (ATC) battle system. Combat incorporates the use of Attack Points (AP), which are needed to act in battle. Points are consumed by attacking and dashing and are replenished by defeating enemies, being attacked, or moving around so time passes. Time only flows when the player is moving, giving them time to stop and plan out where he or she will move next and where enemy units may attack. Once an attack occurs, the screen zooms in on the party, allowing the player to coordinate their attack or defense, similar to the combat system in Valkyrie Profile. The party can also conduct a Leader Assault, in which destroying the enemy leader will cause the others to retreat, ending the battle quickly. Characters have multiple attacks and can be assigned three for use in battle. Stringing together attacks adds to the Heat Gauge. When the Heat Gauge reaches 100% in one turn, characters can perform their Soul Crush special attack (the equivalent of Valkyrie Profile's Purify Weird Soul), which causes great damage and refills the Heat Gauge, possibly allowing another character to use their Soul Crush. Charge Time is absent, allowing characters to use their Soul Crush every turn so long as they charge the Heat Hauge up to 100 each time. New to the game is the concept of breaking off enemy parts. Different attacks can hit different parts of enemies and thus affect the amount of damage afflicted on the enemy. Once part of an enemy has taken sufficient damage, it can break off. When an enemy part breaks off, the player may enter break mode, in which the characters have unlimited AP for attacking for a short amount of time. Monster parts can be equip-able accessories or raw materials that can be sold or used to craft weapons, armor, or other items. With a second controller, a second player can also control one or more party members in combat. Category: Games Category:Articles in need of care Category:RAGNAROKPATHOFHEROES